075, Birthday Gift
075, Birthday Gift
“Gurgle gurgle—”
The boiling soup in the pot made a gurgling sound. Lu Mingfei lifted the lid and took a look. He inserted chopsticks into the chicken. The chopsticks could easily pierce the chicken, proving that the chicken in the pot had been cooked soft.
Seeing a layer of oil floating on the surface, he took a spoon and a bowl, skimmed the oil off the soup and poured it into the bowl. He wanted to keep this chicken soup for cooking later so as not to waste it.
"Stop stuffing firewood in here, you two."
"Okay, brother."
There was a little residual fire left in the stove to warm the chicken soup. After Lu Mingfei reminded the two boys who were watching the fire in front of the stove not to put firewood into the small stove used for making soup, he came out to say hello to the adults and returned to the kitchen to continue cooking dinner for their two families.
There are not many fresh vegetables to eat in winter. Most people eat radishes and cabbages stored for the winter at home. The vegetables that their two families eat in winter are basically these, as well as the various pickled vegetables they made in autumn.
However, a fresh vegetable often appears on the dinner tables of their two families, and that is bean sprouts.
The bean sprouts were sent by people from the village. Now that it's winter and snowing, deliveries to the city are now only every three days, not every day as before.
It wasn't that Lu Mingfei didn't know how to grow bean sprouts, but his family's current braised food stall was busy enough, and with three people in their family, they couldn't spare a fourth pair of hands to grow bean sprouts. When he gave the bean sprout recipe to the clan leader, he hadn't thought of doing this business again.
Anyway, the price the tribe members give them won't be too high, so it would be easier for them to buy bean sprouts from the tribe members.
So, with few vegetables to choose from, Lu Mingfei had to cook a Chinese cabbage soup in chicken broth. This dish is also very simple to prepare: first, stir-fry shredded pork and preserved eggs with oil and shredded ginger, then pour in the chicken broth and cook. Once it boils, add the Chinese cabbage and tofu. After cooking for two or three minutes, add the seasonings, and the Chinese cabbage soup is ready.
Then he fried some pork slices with sauerkraut, steamed a large bowl of eggs, and finally fried some bacon and garlic sprouts.
In winter, food is limited, so he simply prepared four dishes and a soup with what he had, and also steamed a large pot of rice. Because the store had sold out of sesame cakes that day, they didn't make any more cakes and simply had rice.
After the meal was ready, Lu Mingfei came out and called out to the busy adults: "Dad, Mom, foster parents, let's eat first and then get busy."
"Okay, I'll be right there." Xu Yue Niang responded and told everyone to wash their hands and eat.
The four adults then stopped what they were doing and came to the kitchen to eat.
It was cold outside in the winter, so they simply set up a small table in the kitchen to eat. Four adults and three children had to squeeze together at the small table.
"Well, this stir-fried pork with sauerkraut is delicious!" The first thing Boss Lu picked up with his chopsticks was the stir-fried pork with sauerkraut. The salty and fragrant taste was very much to his liking.
"This chicken soup is delicious and fresh." Xu Yue Niang liked this chicken soup even more.
Hearing the adults say they liked his cooking, Lu Mingfei graciously accepted their approval and said with a smile, "I put some mushrooms in it. Next time we can try stir-frying bacon with pickled cabbage, which will also be delicious."
The mushrooms that his adoptive parents used for food were brought from their family. These mushrooms were given to them by Lu Chunping when he came back to the city to deliver goods.
The two families have been like this for years. If one family has something good, they will definitely send it to the other family. Even if it is not a particularly good thing, as long as the other family does not have it, they will send it to each other's home.
"The best soup is made by making mushrooms and chicken together. We still have some mushrooms at home. We can buy an old hen to make soup some other day." Before the current meal was finished, Xu Yue Niang was already thinking about the next one.
The two children preferred the warm, tender and delicious steamed eggs. Each of them ate half a bowl and still asked for more.
As for Lu Youtian and Liu Sanniang, the two biological parents, they loved to eat anything cooked by the eldest son. The couple used the most practical actions to tell the eldest son how much they loved the dishes on the table.
After the two families had dinner together, Lu Mingfei received a birthday gift from his adoptive father, which was a set of winter clothes.
"Before winter came, I had the embroiderer at the embroidery shop make this for you. I also made one set each for Mingcong, Mingrui, and the other two. This set is yours. The other two smaller sets are for Mingcong and Mingrui." Xu Yueniang took out three sets of clothes, gave one to each of her adopted son and brother, and kept one for her own son. "My needlework is not good, so I won't make clothes for you myself."
"Thank you, stepmother, thank you, stepfather." Lu Mingfei took the birthday gift from the elders with both hands and thanked the two godparents who gave him the gift.
"This is too much of a waste for you guys." Liu Sanniang said a little embarrassedly.
Their two children would receive gifts from Xu Yueniang every year on their birthdays. Of course, they would also send a gift back on the birthday of the Lu family's child. However, since their family had two children and the other family only had one, it meant that their family received two birthday gifts while the other family only received one.
"There's no need for such awkward words between our two families. As long as they grow up safely, that's our greatest wish," said Xu Yueniang.
Liu Sanniang smiled and nodded. As parents, their greatest wish is to see their children grow up safely.
"Mingrui, this is a gift from your uncle and aunt. Do you want to say anything to them?" Lu Mingfei pulled his brother over and asked.
"Thank you, auntie, thank you, uncle." Lu Mingrui, who had been taught good manners by adults, thanked his elders obediently.
"You're welcome. No need to thank me, good boy." Xu Yue Niang reached out and touched the child's head.
By the time they had finished their meal and received the gifts, it was almost dark outside.
Their work for the day had come to an end, so everyone cleaned up the things in the yard.
After leaving the house, Lu Mingfei carried his two younger brothers to the donkey cart and sat them down, then went home with his father and mother. Because his two younger brothers had to study with him the next morning, his adoptive parents packed up their sons and took them with them. After all, the boy usually stayed at their house more often than at his own.
Only Xu Yue Niang looked at her son who had left with his adopted son's family, smiled helplessly and shook her head.
***
By the time the family returned home, it was already completely dark outside.
"Dad, Mom, why don't you guys go and pack up and go back to the house to rest? I'll take care of them tonight. I'll boil some hot water and wash them up, and then let them sleep in my room." Knowing that his father and mother must be very tired after a busy day, Lu Mingfei took the initiative to offer to take care of his two younger brothers tonight.
In fact, his father and mother have worked very hard over the years. They get up before dawn every day to make braised food and have to go out to sell things very early. They are busy for at least half of the day.
There were two other children at home, and especially since his younger brother was born, his mother had to spend some time with the youngest. Of course, as the older brother, he would help take care of his younger brother whenever he had time. However, he often had to go to private school, so he wasn't always at home.
For example, now that the private school is on vacation, it would be better if he stayed at home all day. At least he could help his parents with some of the work and help take care of his younger brother.
Everyone has been even more tired recently, because usually we would be able to get home around two in the afternoon, but recently everyone has been busy until five or six in the afternoon, which means we have to work more than ten hours a day before we can rest.
Normally, Liu Sanniang would have told the two younger children to sleep in their room, but today she was extremely tired, so she agreed with her eldest son: "Alright, you can take them to sleep in your room tonight. Remember to check if they kick off the covers during the night. You don't have to get up too early tomorrow morning. Stay up late with them."
"Okay." Lu Mingfei responded.
"Wait a minute, mother has made a new set of clothes for you. I'll go get it for you." Liu Sanniang asked her eldest son to wait for a moment, and she went back to the house to get the clothes she made for her eldest son and took them outside to give to him.
"Thank you, mother. Actually, you don't have to make clothes for me. You are already so busy, and you still have to make clothes for me." Lu Mingfei knew that this was a birthday gift prepared for him by his mother.
"You've grown a lot taller this year. Last year's clothes are a little too short for you. I should have made you two more sets of clothes a long time ago. If I weren't so busy, I would have made you two more sets." Liu Sanniang reached out and touched the child's arm. She had to raise her head slightly to see her eldest son's face. Now that her eldest son had grown up with her, he was even taller than her.
The mother and son exchanged a few words, and Lu Mingfei asked his father and mother to pack up their things and go back to the house to rest. He then took his two younger brothers to the room in the east wing where he lived.
As soon as he entered the room, he lit the fire in the fireplace so that the room would not be so cold.
He had a blanket spread in front of the fireplace in his room, and he let the two children sit on the blanket and play with toys while he filled a copper kettle with water and put it on the fireplace to boil. While the water was boiling, he would read a book and look at the children.
After the water was heated, I went to get the wooden basin used by my two younger brothers, filled it with water, and used it to clean their faces and bodies, and then washed their feet. Then I changed their pajamas and put them to sleep on the upper bunk.
The bed in his room is a bunk bed, and the upper bunk is where his two younger brothers sleep.
After bringing his two younger brothers to the upper bunk, Lu Mingfei reminded them, "Stay up there and don't come down, okay? Mingrui, take good care of your second brother."
"Okay, brother." Lu Mingrui, who had already crawled into the bed, poked his head out and responded.
"Stop making noise, it will hurt if you fall down." After Lu Mingfei warned the two brats, he took the dirty water that the two boys had just used and poured it outside.
As soon as I came out, I saw a man standing in their yard.
If it were someone with less courage, they would definitely be scared to see someone standing in the yard in the middle of the night. However, he had long been accustomed to Zhao Lang's elusiveness, so he was not scared.
Seeing Zhao Lang standing here, he subconsciously glanced at the room where his parents lived. Seeing that the lights over there were off, he knew that his parents must have gone to bed at this time.
"Wait for me." He came over and greeted Zhao Lang quietly, asking Zhao Lang to wait for him here. Lu Mingfei then fetched a bucket of cold water and went into the house. He filled the copper kettle with water and put it on the stove to continue heating it.
Hearing the chattering of the two little guys coming from the bed, he knew that they were not asleep yet.
"..." Lu Mingfei, so when will these two brats go to sleep? Author's gossip: Thanks to Bole 9492239 (9492239) for supporting me, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
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